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Erik Morales is much more elusive out of the ring than in it.
On the business side of the ropes if you want a war, and if you want to stand toe to toe and trade, more often than not, Erik will happily and willingly oblige.
This proved to be a most costly strategy error for Erik in his third clash with Marco Antonio Barrera. Barrera who’s shorter and more compact, was geared up for a short range war, and Morales was ready to tango from the opening bell. The result was that Barrera broke Morales nose with a pinpoint left uppercut in the opening round.
Erik showed what a truly great fighter he is, by overcoming this setback. But it was only in the second half of the fight, that he finally put his willingness to slug and his festering loathing of Barrera to one side on the back burner, and belatedly started to use his shrewd boxing brain, to pick off the smaller man with long range power shots. It’s likely that the outcome of the fight would have been quite different had he employed this tactic earlier. He also would not have picked up so much bumps, scuffs and bruises, to which he is always rather susceptible. [details]
On the business side of the ropes if you want a war, and if you want to stand toe to toe and trade, more often than not, Erik will happily and willingly oblige.
This proved to be a most costly strategy error for Erik in his third clash with Marco Antonio Barrera. Barrera who’s shorter and more compact, was geared up for a short range war, and Morales was ready to tango from the opening bell. The result was that Barrera broke Morales nose with a pinpoint left uppercut in the opening round.
Erik showed what a truly great fighter he is, by overcoming this setback. But it was only in the second half of the fight, that he finally put his willingness to slug and his festering loathing of Barrera to one side on the back burner, and belatedly started to use his shrewd boxing brain, to pick off the smaller man with long range power shots. It’s likely that the outcome of the fight would have been quite different had he employed this tactic earlier. He also would not have picked up so much bumps, scuffs and bruises, to which he is always rather susceptible. [details]